Catching feelings. A story about you & Austin North.

"Why did you kiss him, you idiot?"

"Austin. You have to actually get on the horse. You can't just stand by it!" I sighed. I looked over at the tall, lanky, terrified boy standing next to Cas in the round pen. "Um that's fine & all but how does one get on a horse exactly?" He said while looking at me wide eyed. Lord help me. "Okay come here." I told him. "Put your left leg in the stirrup like this." I showed him. "Then grab the saddle horn, pull your body up, & throw your right leg over to the other side." I instructed. His first attempt was not successful. He didn't put his left leg far enough in the stirrup & when he lifted his body up, his converse slipped right out of the stirrup & he nailed his face on the saddle. Cas stood by with not a care in the world while I tried my hardest to hold back a laugh. "I'm getting it this time! I refuse to look like any more of an asshat than I already do in front of a cute girl." I felt my cheeks heat up & I knew I was blushing. I looked up as I head a victory yell. Austin was successfully sitting up in the saddle smiling from ear to ear.

After a long hard day of training, I figured we deserved a relaxing trail ride to end on. I had Austin keep walking Cas around the round pen. It was honestly more of Cas going wherever he wanted & Austin just sitting in the saddle holding the reins but he was having a blast. I got wildfire & saddled him up. I hopped on & rode down to the round pen. I got off & opened the gate. I jumped back in the saddle & looked at Austin. "Come on!" I said. He looked at me & tried to kick & direct Cas in the right direction. Cas stood completely still. I forced my laughter back down & said "cmon Cas!" Cas looked up & walked out of the pen & over to wildfire & I. "Am I ready for this?" Austin asked. "You'll do great. Cas & Wildfire are buddies so they'll stay together." I answered. Off we went. We rode in & out of the woods, through fields, & across a little creek. It was amazing being on my horses back, riding in a beautiful place, & having a wonderful partner to ride with. Austin looked at me smiling. "Thank you" he said. "For what?" I questioned. "Today. Breakfast. Riding. You." He said slightly blushing. "I'm really happy you're here" I said. "Now let's see what ya got" I smirked & kicked wildfire taking him off into an easy lope. "What?!" Austin yelled. I let wildfire run for a minute then pulled back on the reins. I pulled out my phone & went to take a selfie right as I heard thundering hooves behind me & loud laughter. I snapped the picture getting Cas & Austin's laughing face in the background. Cas slid to a stop beside wildfire. "That was insane!" Austin said cackling. "I stayed on!" He jumped off his horse & came over right next to me. He held his hands up & helped me down off the horse. He crushed me in a huge hug. When he finally loosened his grip, I looked up, realizing only then how close we were. Even with our height difference, our faces were only inches apart. He tilted his face down slowly moving closer to mine. My body reacted to him & I inched up on my tippy toes & closed my eyes. Our lips met & it was like fireworks bursting. It was like jumping into a freezing cold pool on a hot summers day. It was like winning a belt buckle at your first rodeo. I opened my eyes & saw him smiling his huge smile. "Whoa. That was..." he began. "Yeah, it was." I said. "I'm going to go put the horses up" I said, quickly grabbing wildfire & cas's reins & leading them to the barn. "Why did you kiss him you idiot" I thought. "Now you're going to catch feelings & there's no scenario where this ends well." I scolded myself. I argued with myself the whole walk back to my house that afternoon.